{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1430",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 1430,
    "subject": "Ozflash Revised, Part 6",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1999-03-14T23:00:24+00:00",
    "last": "1999-03-14T23:00:24+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0024-0059@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "William H. Ansley",
        "address": "wansley at warwick.net"
      },
      "date": "1999-03-14T23:00:24+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Ozflash Revised, Part 6",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "The New Improved Wonderful Eyeflash of Oz\nOz References in \"The Eyeflash Miracles\" Part 6\n\nOne of the biologists who had worked in the program mentioned that the same\ntype of genetic alteration that had been made in the children in the\nexperiment could happen spontaneously in the population at large. The\ngovernment[21] was very concerned over this and decided that any such\nnaturally-mutated children had to be found.\n\nThe biologists hypothesized that a person with paranormal abilities might\npossess certain retinal peculiarities, since such people often see things\nnormal people can't. The government already had a system of retinal\nscanners in place, which were used whenever anyone had to be identified for\npurposes such as paying out unemployment benefits. The government also used\nthe scanners as a means of tracking and controlling the population, using a\ncomprehensive database of retinal patterns. The scanners could emit a flash\nbright enough to permanently blind anyone looking into them by destroying\ntheir retinas[22]. This method was used to trap criminals on the run. The\nability to detect the retinas of people with paranormal abilities was added\nto the system and, a few weeks later, it was triggered. But, the scheme\nback-fired. A blinded criminal became helpless and government agents (who\nwere automatically alerted by the system) could easily get to the scanner\nlocation and pick the criminal up. But the paranormal individual made no\nsign that anything had happened and quietly left the scanner location.\nBecause his retinas were totally destroyed, he could not be identified by\nthe scanner method again. Of course, this individual turned out to be\nLittle Tib. He had been a child in the control group in the experiment. The\nwhole control group had been brought in with each half of the experimental\ngroup, which was why the phenomena occurred with each half.\n\nThe government decided that Little Tib could not possibly be a spontaneous\nmutation; his mother must have sensed that something bad would happen to\nthe experimental children and switched him with one of the controls shortly\nafter birth[23] to protect him. The government has been hunting for Little\nTib ever since. The man playing Indra is a government agent who is going to\nkill Little Tib. But he is not going to do it immediately, he must wait\nuntil Little Tib demonstrates his paranormal abilities. He has a camera\nthat will transmit the evidence to his superiors who will then authorize\nLittle Tib's death.\n\nIndra has been talking to Little Tib in Dr. Privithi's converted school bus\n(I accidentally referred to it as a trailer in my last posting). Nitty\nappears[24] to help Little Tib get to the stage. A thunderstorm is coming\nand Dr. Privithi wants to get the pageant going before the rain starts.\nNitty helps Little Tib get up on the stage. As he steps onto it, Little Tib\nsuddenly can see, apparently. He seems to see an (Asian) Indian village\nwithin an idealized landscape. The sky is full of palaces, heros and gods.\n\n----------------------------------\nThen he knew that it was only imagination, only a dream; not his dream this\ntime, but Dr. Prithivi's dream. Perhaps Dr. Prithivi could dream the way he\ndid, so strongly that the angels came to make the dreams true; perhaps it\nwas only Dr. Prithivi's dream working through him.\n----------------------------------\n\nThe pageant tells the story of an Indian legend[25]. Little Tib sees all of\nthe other people in it as they would appear in the legend: Indian\nvillagers, gods, etc. The pageant continues until Indra appears. He is\nwearing his mask and carrying a sword in one hand and a glittering eye in\nthe other. Little Tib realizes that this eye is the camera that Indra will\nuse to prove that Little Tib is the one to be killed. Little Tib vows he\nwill not work any wonders, but realizes that he is not always in control of\nwhether they happen or not.\n\nRain starts to fall in torrents and everyone runs for shelter, leaving\nLittle Tib and Indra alone on the stage. Suddenly a man, made all of metal,\nappears. He holds an axe and wears a pointy hat. Indra can see him, as well\nas Little Tib. Indra asks the Metal man who he is. The Metal Man then asks\nIndra who he is. \"I can't see your face behind that wooden mask--but wood\nhas never stood for long against me.\" The Metal Man chops at the mask,\nwhich falls off. Little Tib then recognizes his father's face.\n\n----------------------------------\n\"Who are you?\", his father said to the Metal Man again.\n  \"Don't you know me Georgie?\", the Metal Man said. \"Why we used to be old\nfriends, once. I have--if I may say so--a very sympathetic heart, and\nwhen--\"\n----------------------------------\n\nLittle Tib interrupts him by yelling \"Daddy!\" His father speaks to him\nreassuringly and then, very quickly, strikes at him with the sword. The\nMetal Man's axe is even quicker and blocks the sword from striking Little\nTib. The Metal Man disappears and Little Tib can no longer see at all, but\nhis father doesn't try to kill him again.\n\nI have summarized quite a bit of _The Eyeflash Miracles_ in this post,\nincluding many non-Oz parts. I have done this for two reasons: so that\npeople who don't have access to the story can follow at least the bare\nbones of it and to support my conclusion about why Little Tib see Oz\ncharacters he does not recognize.\n\nThe Metal Man is the Tin Woodman, named Nick Chopper, who first appears in\n_The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ (as does the Scarecrow, although I neglected\nto say so before) and who appears in all or nearly all of Baum's Oz books,\nas well as the movie.\n\nThe Tin Woodman recognizes Little Tib's father. (Both Little Tib and his\nfather are named George Tibbs --Little Tib and Big Tib). I take this to\nmean that Big Tib read some of the Oz books or at least saw the movie when\nhe was a child (\"Why we used to be old friends, once.\") even though he\nseems to have forgotten about Oz as an adult. Somehow his father's\n(possibly unconscious) memories have been (apparently unconsciously)\nabsorbed by Little Tib's mind and are providing a template that affects how\nhe sees the angels who help him or how he portrays them, depending on\nwhether the things he calls angels originate outside of or inside of his\nmind.\n\nThe fact that Little Tib explains his vision of an Indian village to\nhimself by saying that it was due to Dr. Privithi's dream of India indicate\nthat other people's thoughts can affect what Little Tib sees in his visions\nupon occasion or at least that Little Tib thinks so.\n\nWilliam Ansley\n\n[21] We learn that the capital of the nation is Niagara. The nation is\nnever named but it has to be the United States or a portion of it. Either\nsome cataclysmic events in U.S. history that we are not told about have\nhappened or Wolfe is describing a alternate U.S. in a \"parallel universe.\"\n\n[22] The primary reason this technique was used, so Little Tib is told, was\nthat it was very inexpensive to add this ability to the scanners, making\nthe whole thing seem even more chilling.\n\n[23] Little Tib consistently refuses to believe that the woman he remembers\nas his mother is not his real mother, no matter what he is told.\n\n[24] No explanation is given as to why Little Tib doesn't ask Nitty (or\nanyone else) for help, even though he has just been told he will be killed\nsoon. Perhaps he has been on his own so long he doesn't think of it.\nPerhaps he is afraid if he tells anyone else they will be in danger, too.\n\n[25] Dr. Prithivi tells Little Tib the story of the pageant.\n\n----------------------------------\nKrishna is the son of Queen Devaki, and this lady is the sister of the\nwicked King Kamsa who kills all her children when the are born. To save\nKrishna, the good Queen places him among villagers. He offends Indra, who\ncomes to destroy him...\n----------------------------------\n\nThe end of the story is not recorded because Little Tib stops listening."
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}